Nellie Ohr lied to Congress during her 2018 testimony about her role in the Trump-Russia investigation, newly declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents allege.
Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that employed Ohr, had her conduct open-source research on Donald Trump and Paul Manafort’s alleged ties to Russian organized crime during the 2016 presidential election, according to the collection of FBI documents.
Ohr testified to the House Judiciary and Oversight committees that she did not have knowledge of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) related investigation and that she did not share her research with anyone other than Fusion GPS, her husband Bruce and Christopher Steele, the documents read. (RELATED: Kash Patel Says Comey’s ‘Political Statement’ Inspired Copycats And Caused Other Headaches For FBI)
Ohr said she understood that knowingly providing false testimony could lead to facing charges of perjury or false statements, the FBI noted.
However, the statements given by Ohr allegedly contradict the recently declassified FBI findings.
“Ohr provided a thumb drive containing all her Fusion GPS research to” her husband, a former senior DOJ official, “so that he might give it to the FBI,” according to the bureau.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 19: Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr (2nd R) arrives for a closed-door interview with investigators from the House Judiciary and Oversight committees in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill October 19, 2018 in Washington, DC. Ohr, wife of senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, is being investigated about the opposition research dossier about then-candidate Donald Trump’s alleged personal and business ties to Russia that Republicans say is at the center of alleged Department of Justice misconduct during the 2016 election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Bruce testified that Ohr “gave me that stick to give to the FBI because it related to the FBI’s Russia investigation, and she gave me that stick to give it to the FBI,” according to the FBI’s findings.
When pressed on whether she disputed her husband’s testimony, Ohr said “I do not,” the documents read.
“There is probable cause to believe that Bruce and Nellie did communicate with each other about their respective activity in furtherance of the Russia-collusion investigations and/or narrative,” the FBI alleged.
“If Bruce Ohr knew these things, given the totality of the circumstances, it seems implausible that Nellie Ohr was not also aware of them. If she was aware of these facts, she was aware that her Fusion GPS research was incorporated into what became the ‘Steele’ dossier,” the FBI documents said, suggesting that her denial of any involvement was materially false.
Republican President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate Chuck Grassley of Iowa initiated the release of the documents, according to a statement from his website. “The DOJ’s inaction on Nellie Ohr’s criminal referral — despite the obviously incriminating evidence provided in the FBI’s own analysis — undermines public trust in the rule of law,” he said.
“[T]he FBI and DOJ’s failure to hold Ohr accountable for appearing to commit multiple felonies and its obstructive conduct against agents that sought additional information reveals the agencies’ deeply disturbing political bias,” Grassley said. “Ohr never suffered consequences for advancing the phony Trump-Russia narrative and attempting to cover up her involvement in the hoax.”
A DOJ spokesperson told the Daily Caller that “Justice Department policy is generally to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.”
